Toddler found abandoned on street

Last Wednesday the members of the Edwel Community Policing Forum (CPF) on patrol found a toddler asleep on the pavement in Diemeer Street at 23:30.

According to Edwel management, the Edwel members were on routine patrol when they spotted a small bundle on the pavement.

Upon closer inspection, the men found that the bundle was in fact a small boy.

Edwel’s spokesperson said initially the Edwel members thought the boy was dead, because he lay very still and was ice cold to the touch. It was only when they tried to revive him that they realised the boy was still alive.

They called the police and police officials took the boy to Ngwana Baby House.

Santie Oberholzer, social worker at Ngwana Baby House, said the boy was two or three years old.

She said he understood Sepedi, but would not speak.

According to a man who lives in the area, he heard a vehicle come to a stop and heard a woman tell somebody to wait for her and that she would be back soon around 20:30.

He said he did not see the little boy and did not realise that the woman had left a child there on the street.

Polokwane police spokesperson, WO Lesiba Ramoshaba said a case of child neglect would be investigated by the police and said anybody with information about the child’s identity or how he came to be on the street alone at night could contact the Polokwane police station at (015) 290 6531.